Who knew a Kate Bush song would generate the highlight moment in “M3GAN 2.0”?
Leading up to its ultra-violent conclusion, Gemma (Allison Williams) opens up to M3GAN about the challenges of trying to be a motherly figure to her niece Cady (Violet McGraw). It’s an unexpected somber moment in a horror movie centered on a homicidal robotic doll. Then, out of nowhere, M3GAN begins to sing to Gemma Kate Bush’s late 1980s hit single “This Woman’s Work.”
As M3GAN belts out the song, Gemma commands her creation to stop singing. But M3GAN keeps on going, pressing two of her robotic fingers on Gemma’s lips to silence her as she sings on. Even a full orchestra kicks in to heighten the moment.
It’s a laugh-out-loud moment that writer-director Gerard Johnstone knew would work, going all the way back to when he put it in an early draft of the script.
“There were two things about the first movie that defined it, M3GAN’s singing and her dancing,” Johnstone told Business Insider. “I knew that as much as I wanted to change things up on this one, I had to figure out a way to do those two things. It was so delightful that we kind of pulled it off and got the moment that we were hoping for.”
Like the first movie, M3GAN has her dance moment in the sequel, but this time, it’s her singing that is the highlight — and Johnstone knew the Bush song would work.
“There were a few conversations with my producers about using that song,” he said, “and I just felt there’s something about it, the way Kate Bush writes music, no one else writes music that way, so I thought it’s going to be odd, but people are going to love it.”
The singing scene was done with a fully animatronic M3GAN
Universal Pictures
The singing sequence also showcases the evolution of the robotics used for M3GAN compared to the first movie, as Williams acted across from an animatronic puppet.
“That is our animatronic M3GAN doing everything,” Johnstone said. “We recorded those lines leading up to that moment. The song itself was sung by Jenna Davis, who voices M3GAN.”
“Then there were three puppeteers behind M3GAN helping to position her body,” Johnstone continued. “A puppeteer’s arm is M3GAN’s arm in that moment, to do some of the moves like putting her two fingers on Gemma’s lips.”
Johnstone said the animatronic lip sync was so spot on that Williams had to make sure her timing was right in the scene when she delivered her lines, even when the voice coming out of M3GAN would suddenly change from Davis to a high-pitched Johnstone.
“Every now and again, if there was a line change, suddenly someone else’s voice, often mine, would pop up out of M3GAN’s mouth,” he said. “So Allison would have to try not to break character and stay in the moment when that happened.”
The result is an outlandish scene of M3GAN serenading Gemma to a Kate Bush hit. And Johnstone says it comes at a perfect time in the movie.
“Normally, around that time in a movie is where things start to drag, when you’re going into the last act,” Johnstone said. “But it’s kind of great having a scene like that that sort of carries us over into the finale.”
The animatronics in “M3GAN 2.0 ” are impressive, but Johnstone hopes to do even more if he is given a chance to make a third movie.
“M3GAN 2.0” is currently playing in theaters.
